1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply. More specifically, is directed to a mini power supply module capable of altering the included angle between the components thereof to better accommodate in the condition with smaller installation clearance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, the conventional power supply utilized in the desktop PC system is mostly designed in formal, strict standard, such as the specifications confining to the dimension of AT, ATX, micro ATX, and ITX motherboard. Such power supply consists mainly of a sheet metal housing, a circuit board, and multiple wiring harnesses. The circuit board, which is provided and protected inside the sheet metal housing, is essentially the primary functional component of the power supply. The external power supply, such as those from electric utility or uninterrupted power system (UPS), is electrically coupled with the circuit board inside the power supply via the input port on the sheet metal housing to transmit the electric power which may be subsequently performed with voltage regulation and transformation processes. The wiring harness connected with said internal circuit board is extended out of the sheet metal housing through the opening, wherein the terminal of said harness is provided with various connectors, such as 20/24-pin ATX main power connector, 4-pin 12V P4 connector, 4-pin parallel connector, 4-pin floppy drive connector, and 6-pin AUX connector, etc, to supply regulated and transformed electric power to multiple peripheral devices installed in the computer system. Due to their cumbersome volume and fixed size, such supply power is typically secured on the predetermined position inside the system case by fasteners. From there the electric power from external power source may be distributed through the wiring harnesses to those electronic devices (ex. motherboard, CD-ROM drive, floppy disk drive, or hard disk, etc) in the system case. For above-mentioned reason, conventional power supply can't provide satisfactory flexibility and adaptability in the strict arrangement of computer system.
Furthermore, thank to the rapid progress in the electronic technology, more and more powerful mini-PC system/device are successively developed and presented to the customers. Such system has the same constitution and configuration just as the general computer system, but with significantly smaller size, especially for those applied in the field of industrial PC system, embedded PC system, and in-car infotainment system. Those mini-PC systems are characterized by their miniaturization feature, diverse system specifications, and must change its design frequently for better customization. In such situation, conventional power supply with cumbersome, bulky housing may not be appropriately integrated into this kind of miniaturized PC system. For this reason, the so-called ultra compact “power supply module” is contemplated and developed in the Industry. Such power supply module is free from cumbersome, bulky housing. Instead, the circuit board once disposed inside the housing is scaled down enough to fit and adjoin with the power connector (ex. 24-pin ATX main power connector) that functions as the output terminal of power supply. In real use, this kind of mini power supply module is plugged directly on the motherboard, just like a regular PCI expansion card, without using sheet metal housing to be secured on the system case. Therefore, such mini power supply module occupies only a small amount of installation space above the motherboard such that it may better accommodates in the miniaturized system. It also saves the cost for additional component, such as metal housing and wiring harness.
However, even the space occupied by the power supply module is quite small, there is still some geometric limitation that may hinder the power supply module from being installed in the system case. For example, the lack of clearance in height of system case during the assembly of circuit board and power connector, or the power supply module being blocked by the components installed in the system case. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the structure design for this kind of mini power supply module.